Queen Drummer Roger Taylor Says There Will Be No New Album

Queen drummer Roger Taylor has officially debunked recent reports regarding plans for a new album from the band that would feature Freddie Mercury’s vocals taken from demo recordings.

In an exclusive conversation with Ultimate Classic Rock, Taylor said that while there are no plans for such an album, they are indeed working to prepare songs that Mercury recorded with Michael Jackson for future release.

“I've got to tell you, there won't be an album. There's just not enough and the last thing I want to do is have a sort of barrel-scraping exercise. But there's a couple of great tracks that Freddie recorded with Michael Jackson that Brian and I are working on and they are good. So at some point they will surface I think when we feel it's a good moment. I don't really want to ride any sort of wave there. So that's an interesting thing, but that will be probably later some point next year.”

Taylor will be in Los Angeles on Monday to judge the final round of auditions for the ‘Queen Extravaganza,’ a North American talent search that he created to build the group of musicians and singers who will help to celebrate the music and legacy of Queen. This new group will serve as the officially-sanctioned band for the 2012 Queen Extravaganza Live tour. Stay tuned for the rest of our conversation with Roger, which will be online soon!